


maul the world like a carnival bear set free

by nikadd



Category: American Vandal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Gabi Granger, Bisexual Sam Ecklund, Canon Compliant, Coming Out, F/M, Flashbacks, Friends to Lovers, Gay Peter Maldonado, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 02, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 06:25:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16034828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikadd/pseuds/nikadd
Summary: Okay, the thing about Peter was that he was good at research. No, correction: he was fucking amazing at it. He was good at finding all the information they would ever need and even more so that they won’t, but what Peter is absolute shit at is actually putting things together into a sound theory. He has his moments of clarity, but there is a reason Sam has a string thing. Sam is the one who connects the dots, which is why it wasn’t a total surprise that Peter was so off the mark about him.But, again, Peter’s good at getting all the intel, and if the viewers were just a fraction more observant than he was, they would come to a different conclusion about Sam.And that was terrifying._________________________________sam is into peter. peter doesn't - shouldn't - know. gabi thinks sam is an idiot.





	maul the world like a carnival bear set free

**Author's Note:**

> okay so a couple things to take care of:
> 
> disclaimer: don't know them! don't own them! don't profit off of them! tyler alvarez can and should call me tho!
> 
> another disclaimer: english isn't my first language AND this is entirely un-betaed, so please do point out any and all errors, please.
> 
> another another disclaimer: i've binged the show last weekend so everything is a bit hazy in my head, so if there are any canon-related issues, please also do inform me of them. like, i genuinely don't remember what the boys were doing during the nana's party, so i guess i took some artistic liberties with that.
> 
> i'll try to update as often as possible, and comments would definitely help!  
> i'll keep the mature rating at least for the language, since i am not entirely sure if i will write any hot action since i've never really done that before, but ~everything is possible~.
> 
> also the ship name is eldonado okay i'm making it so.
> 
> (fic title is from the kids aren't alright by fall out boy)
> 
> ________________________  
> update: after posting ch1, i've rewatched the show four times and came to a new headcanon.  
> [here's the explanation](http://nikadd.tumblr.com/post/178382960915/maul-the-world-update)

It was a strange situation to navigate.

Sam was well aware of just how dedicated Peter was to the documentary, and certainly better than anyone even tangentially involved with the production. No viewer knew of the extensive hours spent researching, editing, looking through the data, and very few of Hanover High students saw Peter _really_ at work.

Sam did.

So many of their weekends were spent in Peter’s house, working tirelessly on American Vandal. Sometimes Sam would arrive at the Maldonado residence and Peter would already be knees deep in the footage, the bags under his eyes and an array of mugs on the floor suggesting that he’d been up all night. The third week this happened, Sam started to bring takeout to their editing sessions. Sometimes Sam had to get Mrs. Maldonado to make Peter take a break, for which Sam knew Peter hated him at least a little.

Sam knew how seriously Peter took their work, and that is why he could not understand why he underestimated his best friend’s ability to be a fucking hard-ass about their cases against each other.

Okay, the thing about Peter was that he was good at research. No, correction: he was fucking _amazing_ at it. He was good at finding all the information they would ever need and even more so that they won’t, but what Peter is absolute shit at is actually putting things together into a sound theory. He has his moments of clarity, but there is a reason Sam has a string thing. Sam is the one who connects the dots, which is why it wasn’t a total surprise that Peter was so off the mark about him.  
But, again, Peter’s good at getting all the intel, and if the viewers were just a fraction more observant than he was, they would come to a different conclusion about Sam.

And that was terrifying.

 

It was stupid, embarrassing, and just wrong to have ended up in this situation – though he was already past it! He was so fucking past it! – but when Sam, a mere freshman just out of braces and so pumped about already getting good roles in school plays, met THE Brandon Galloway, he realized that maybe there was some credibility to the whole - gay? bisexual? _something_ \- thing.

It was kinda sad that his realization involved jerking off over Brandon’s photo from a football game on their school newspaper’s website, but, then again, many things were sad about that whole mess.

Then Gabi, one of his closest friends and someone he, okay, might hold some minor romantic feelings for, started dating Brandon, and Sam got real pissed real fast.

There were many reasons for that:

  1. Sam was quick to find out that Brandon Galloway was an absolute dick.
  2. He was an absolute dick to Gabi, and when they did find out he'd been cheating on her, Sam was seriously disappointed that it took them that long to do that.
  3. He was an absolute dick, but he was still an extremely _hot_ dick.



Err. Not to imply that Sam saw… Shit. Whatever.

It took Sam months (months!) to get over Gabi’s ex (that’s all that asshole really is, after all), but, to his credit, Sam turned this energy into actively hating the dick as Gabi’s best friend.

So, as he was watching the meticulously planned but so very much misguided analysis of his motivations and feelings, Sam really wanted to hit both Brandon and Peter in the jaw.

If he were to deny everything… No. Sam knew how faithful Peter was to the Truth, and outright lying to Peter about things that actually did happen would be a move so much worse than making a video where he just projected his own _thing_ for shits and giggles, even though Peter totally deserved it.

If he were to tell Peter the truth and say that, even though Gabi was one of the most important people in his life, since rather recently it would not be Gabi for whom he would do nearly anything. Thus, he would have to explain who that person is, which brought Sam to the real issue at hand.

Peter.

Sweet, dedicated, but such an oblivious idiot.

For Sam to explain why Peter was wrong would be to explain that over the past months of slowly but surely accepting the fact that he liked guys, the hours spent working together on the Morning Show, the weekends camped out in Peter’s basement playing video games, Sam fell in love.

Somehow, it felt worse than liking someone like Brandon fucking Galloway.

 

He almost told Peter, the night of Nana’s party.

Bummed about not being invited and not feeling cocky enough to crash a house party, Peter invited Sam to sleep over. They ordered pizza, queued a bunch of shitty horror flicks that Peter genuinely thought were some art-house quality films but whatever, and settled in for a night of reluctantly checking their social media for the progress of the party at Nana’s.

Another thing about Peter is that when he is really into something that he watches, and that list ranges from Harry Potter to a NOVA documentary about math, he really gets into it. It used to be fun to watch the way Peter seemed to eat the screen with his eyes and how his mouth opened just a fraction that Sam had an entire album on his phone of saved snaps of Peter with his mouth open and a drop of spit daring to slide down his chin. Now Peter’s hypnotized state was distracting for completely unamusing reasons.

They were watching some weird European movie Peter had been talking about for weeks now, but Sam found himself transfixed on his friend once again. Peter took off his glasses for the night, which was not unusual, but it was still a rare enough phenomenon that Sam wanted to memorize the way Peter’s face looked unobstructed. The light from the screen flickered in and out of Peter’s eyes and his lips were already wet and weathered from the compulsive biting he’s been doing since the movie started, and Sam prayed to all the powers that may or may not exist that his friend wouldn’t notice just how flushed and bothered he looked.

For a long minute, Sam felt like this was it, the moment he would tell his best friend that he liked guys. Not necessarily that he is into Peter, but maybe just to try it out. To find out how Peter would react.

Sam, so caught up in the whirlwind of thoughts, failed to notice that the movie ended until Peter, quickly wiping his mouth as if Sam had not been staring at it this entire time, turned to look at him, and the two found themselves breathing each other’s air. Embarrassed for allowing himself to get so close to Peter’s face, Sam recoiled and gathered himself three whole feet away.

“Are you okay?” Oh, Peter.

“Yeah, uh, I’m going to go get some water, you can put on the next movie.”

Sam got up, too quickly for his body’s liking, and walked towards the door, too aware of the scrutinizing eyes of his best friend.

“Don’t go flirting with my mother, you dick!” Peter yelled as Sam made his way upstairs, not being able to help snickering.

Water was a good choice, all things considered, because he really needed to beat whatever thirst had been punching him in the gut. A cold shower would have been better, but that would have been a bit more suspicious.

As he was putting the glass in the sink, he felt more than heard Peter entering the kitchen.

“Do you think Ashley Hanson is hot?”

… Yeah, that was not the night to tell Peter.

“Uh, yeah? I don’t know, I haven’t really been checking her out lately. I can though, if you want me to.”

Peter looked _adorable_ when he was blushing, dammit. “Uh, no, that is not necessary.”

Sam shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Peter poured himself some water too, and Sam watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed with each gulp.

Yeah, that wasn’t the time.

 

Next day, two days before the infamous act of vandalism, Sam decided that he had to tell someone.

Their rehearsal ran late, and Gabi promised Sam to give him a ride.

“Do you want the aux cord?” She (really, an _angel_ ) asked as they got in the car and fastened their seat-belts.

“Uh, no. Can we… Can I tell you something?”

She looked at him as she turned the ignition key. “Sure? Is something wrong?”

“No! Nothing’s wrong, it’s just… Ugh. It’s, uh, kinda awkward, but, uh, important that I tell you.”

Silence. And then, “I swear to fucking God, Sam, if you are about to tell me that you are quitting the show, I am going to kill you.”

“God no! No!” _Jesus_. “That’s, like, so far from what I wanted to say!”

Gabi seized him with her no bullshit look and visibly calmed down. “Okay, I am listening.”

“Uh, okay, so.” Suddenly the loose thread on his plaid shirt became _super_ interesting. “Well, what I mean to say is…”

“I don’t mean to rush you, but I did promise my mom to get home before it’s dark, so please do try to get on with-“

“I’m bi.”

The thread was multicolored! He didn’t know they made them multicolored! Huh.

“Sam.”

Beat.

“Yes?”

“Look at me.”

He did.

She was smiling. "Me too."

"You _what_? And you didn't tell me?"

"Look who is talking!"

Right. "Well, uh, sorry. I guess it's just the fact that it took me having to come up with, like, a hundred versions of how this conversation could have gone, and you still managed to surprise me."

“Thank you for telling me, though.”

He smiled at her, finally relaxed. “You’re welcome.”

She laughed and drove out of the parking lot.

 

“Don’t take it the wrong way, but…” She said as they stood in traffic.

“What?”

She looked at him. “I kind of had a feeling you weren't straight.”

Oh. “What, uh, gave it away?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think there was anything too specific. Maybe it's a gay energy thing through which we all find each other.”

“Maybe you just know me well.”

“Maybe.” She checked her phone, and then added, “I did see you checking Brandon out, so.”

Oh God. “Oh God.”

“I know that you don’t like him,” _“Well, uh-”_ “but, like, you gotta admit that he’s hot.”

“… He’s still a dick though.”

She grinned. “Oh, absolutely. He’s _my_ dick though.”

…

“Jesus, that was bad.”

“He came up with that.”

“I guess then I can forgive you for that.”

“Really?”

“No!”

The traffic dissipated, and they drove another mile.

“Have you told Peter?”

He thought his silence was an appropriate response.

 

The day _that_ episode went live, Gabi texted him first.

From: Gabi  
01:46pm  
r u okay?  
  
To: Gabi  
01:47pm  
yeah, i dont wanna talk bout it  
  
From: Gabi  
01:47pm  
ok.  
  
01:47pm  
can i ask u something else tho  
  
To: Gabi  
01:52pm  
yeah

From: Gabi  
01:53pm  
peter still doesn’t know?

To: Gabi  
01:54pm  
about the bi thing?  
  
From: Gabi  
01:54pm  
yes

To: Gabi  
01:55pm  
nope.

From: Gabi  
01:55pm  
r u in class rn or empty period

To: Gabi  
01:56pm  
class. he keeps trying to call me over.

From: Gabi  
01:56pm  
you could just tell him, yk? he’s your best friend.

01:56pm  
besides me, ofc

To: Gabi  
01:57pm  
I can’t

01:57pm  
yk him he’s gonna ask qs

From: Gabi  
01:58pm  
I don’t think he’s gonna care too much

01:59pm  
you basically told everyone he jerks off to american apparel, how’s it worse than that??

To: Gabi  
02:00pm  
it’s not that

From: Gabi  
02:01pm  
are you afraid he’s gonna be weird about it? like, start thinking you are into him or something like that?

To: Gabi  
02:04pm  
… something like that

From: Gabi  
02:07pm  
wait

To: Gabi  
02:08pm  
…

From: Gabi  
02:08pm  
omg really???

To: Gabi  
02:08pm  
yeah

From: Gabi  
02:09pm  
that explains so much…

02:12pm  
so you’d rather he thinks you’re into me than into him, I get it

To: Gabi  
02:10pm  
id rather he was entirely uninterested in my love life

From: Gabi  
02:11pm  
mmmaybe it’s a good sign that he is?

02:11pm  
interested, I mean

02:12pm  
maybe that means that he is /interested/?

 

Sam chose not to grace that text with a response. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Peter typing something on his phone, which is probably another theory that is completely unfounded and maybe even intrusive to other people’s privacy.

He really was in love with this asshole, wasn’t he?

**Author's Note:**

> pls talk to me about these idiots @ nikadd.tumblr.com


End file.
